Aldern Foxglove
Aldern Foxglove is a business owner from Medinipur, born to a wealthy family of renown, though in recent generations it has been known mostly for misery and lunacy. He has straight black hair which he keeps tied back in a short ponytail, a clean shave, and dark eyes and features. An excitable, dramatic sort, he is passionate, easy to talk to, friendly, and quickly distracted. A socialite and avid party-goer, Aldern is enamored with the trappings of upper class life; his natural good-looks, polite manner and charm are an asset to him in this regard, but his poor fiscal sensibilities are less than so. He enjoys hunting and other outdoor activities, and routinely goes on expeditions when he can get away from his work responsibilities. He tried a very short stint at adventuring in his youth, but poor company, poor weather, poor prospects and the threat of mortal danger put a quick end to it. A terrible dark turn of events lead to Aldern's death and rebirth as a ghast in his early thirties. He wears a magical illusion in public to disguise his more inhuman features, namely his rotted complexion. The concept of being inhuman disturbs him deeply, and he pathologically avoids any suggestion that he is no longer alive: he refuses to remove his illusion or look at himself without it on, he disregards the vast majority of the abilities that he gained from becoming a ghast, and he eats only animals that have been drugged and dressed to appear as prepared meals. Empathizing with him and taking pity on his inability to comfortably adapt, Luna Estaban worked several powerful rituals to restore his appearance: an amulet prevented any further decay of his body, and a spell functionally restored his human teeth and fingernails as well as banishing his auras of fear and stench. Unfortunately, this amulet was an artifact of Zahira and later needed to be forcibly removed. Pulled into Adventure Foxglove was visiting Sandpoint for the Swallowtail Festival when it came under attack. He was nearly killed by a goblin rider and its feral mount, when he was saved by Eamon, Luna and Khyrralien. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he quickly befriended the adventurers, who were all too willing to be friends with someone as wealthy and emotional as him. While in their company, he often romanticized adventuring, bemoaning that he didn't have the skills or fortitude for adventure himself. After spending a week with them, he regretfully had to return to the city for business. After becoming a ghast, the four adventurers went out of their way to protect and help their friend recover and maintain his humanity. They offered him the chance to join their group, in part as a means to continually observe him; he undoubtedly committed a prolific series of disturbing ritualistic murders after turning, though he had no memory of it. This, combined with his lack of evil aura, lead the adventurers to wonder what precisely could compel him to kill in such a manner without his knowledge or intent, and gave them hope it could be controlled and cured. Aldern accepted their invitation heartily, overwhelmingly relieved and grateful to have a chance at life, and proceeded to join on their subsequent travels. Luna, due to her personal experiences, was particularly supportive of Aldern in the weeks following his turning, going well out of her way to promote his comfort and happiness. The two quickly became very close, and their feelings swiftly became romantic in nature. Multiple Personalities Since his young childhood, Aldern has suffered from multiple personalities. A second persona, known Lordship/Lord Foxglove, manifested in order to allow him to deal with the trauma associated with growing up in a haunted estate; the third, Skinsaw Man, allowed him to deal with becoming a ghast. Lord Foxglove is a clearly refined yet somewhat harsh man with a strict business manner, who uses cunning and underhanded force to ensure he always gets his way. Skinsaw Man is the embodiment of undead hunger, and his personality begins and ends with gleeful murder and cannibalism. An encounter with wish-granting merwomen separated these two personas from the original, curing his disorder. The two alternate personalities received their own bodies, making them into new, distinct men with appearances identical to Aldern. However, as this was not explained, everyone was completely unaware of the existence of the others for some time. Skinsaw did not stray from the swamp he was born in and when he later attacked the locals, he was slain by adventurers and buried in an unmarked, sanctified grave. Lordship, meanwhile, hastened back to Aldern's townhouse in Medinipur. Both men assert that they are the true Aldern Foxglove and try to not mention or acknowledge the other; currently they live together in a somewhat tenuous arrangement wherein one of them is always hidden in a secret basement under the shed.Category:Character